SINGAPORE: After nearly four months without a reported case of Zika virus infection, the first case of 2018 was confirmed last Thursday (Jan 18).

It is also the first case since Sep 29, 2017, according to the Ministry of Health.

The ministry said on Tuesday that the patient sought outpatient treatment and is recovering well.
The first case of locally transmitted Zika in Singapore was reported in August 2016 and by the end of that year, about 450 people here were confirmed to have been infected.

The virus, spread by the aedes aegypti mosquito, has been associated with neurological diseases such as microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with a smaller head due to abnormalities in the development of the brain.

The Health Ministry told Channel NewsAsia last year that of the 17 women who were diagnosed with Zika during their pregnancies in 2016, two had their pregnancies terminated while one had a miscarriage.

The reasons behind this were not linked to Zika. It added the other 14 women gave birth to babies with no signs of microcephaly.

According to the National Environment Agency website, there are currently no Zika clusters in Singapore. The Jan 18 case appears to be an isolated one and it is unclear where the patient caught the virus from.

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